Bike found

Brian’s bike turned up today. The police found it dumped in Wandsworth. By the feel of it it was used by someone screaming around taking phones until the fuel ran out and then they dumped it rather than refuelling on cctv. And they’d have smashed the wheel lock and not given a crap about it. I hope it’s not too damaged. Either way, having just come out of the workshop it’ll be going right back in. Which must be upsetting for Brian. But I’m convinced that all will come good in the end. And the solstice is an auspicious time for its return.

The police don’t recover for free of course. £150 for transport to the pound, and they didn’t take it to Lots Road pound which is in walking distance from the flat. They took it all the way to Perivale. Then they want £10 a day to keep it there. Rather than rush it out, he’s leaving it while he’s in Belgium and then he can get it out when he has time to fit a tracker and get it insured. Expensive storage, but it’s unlikely to be stolen from a police pound.

I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving it in that bay now, unless it was in a suit of bear armour with a full time guard and remote controlled laser drones. I’m glad it’s not lost for good like the other one though. Still. Arseholes. Causing misery so they can cause more misery. There are so many skills to learn that can lead to money. Why learn to steal?

I have been trying to coordinate some people with a van and very little English to move a fridge from Highgate to Chelsea. They can drive and they’re making money driving, and at the same time they’re not causing misery apart from when you try to get information out of them. They’re hard to communicate with. Especially when you’re simultaneously invigilating an exam where the computers were going haywire, and learning lines for an event this evening. It never rains but it pours. But difficult communication is better than ripping phones out of people’s hands and bikes out of people’s bays.

I have hit a moment of downtime, where I’m lying on a pile of costume waiting for my partner for the event tonight. We need to soundcheck in the next half an hour but basically now I can stop a bit. The fridge is still in Highgate. The students who took the exam all submitted successfully I think. And my friend just walked into the downstairs coffee bar at The Globe…

And I’m done for the day. An invigilatey, fridgey globey day. I make my money out of saying yes and getting stuck in. That’s a skill too. Now I’m on the bus home with my rather odd cossack costume. I threw some stuff on from the company costume store which is currently, basically, a big bag in my living room. My ringmaster coat is on loan so I was in a bright red military coat and trousers, and my flaming cowboy boots – all the way from Austin Texas. The New World. Sufficiently costume to be taken seriously by a load of lawyers.